Cori is Talented in front of the Camera and Behind it

EYECAM Photos

I had the pleasure of speaking with Cori - model and graphic designer as she attended EYECAM’s most recent event, “Christmas Showcase”. We get to know Cori, and get her insight as a model in the modeling business.

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Angid

All right. My name is Angid, and I’m here with Kory. You want to give everyone your Instagram and social handles?

Cori

My Instagram is unichorni, U, N, I, C, H, O, R, N, I, and then every other platform has two eyes. Instagram, unfortunately, just didn't like the first page that I made.

Angid

So you want to talk about why that one got taken down first before we jump into it?

Cori

I mean, Instagram changes their terms, and they think things are inappropriate, but seemingly other people can post it and it's completely fine, but not me. It’s okay, whatever.

Angid

So you got to start from scratch.

Cori

Oh, yeah, and the best part is they took my account down for a post. It wasn't even about me, it was somebody else’s.

Angid

That’s interesting, that’s great. We love Instagram. So how long have you been modeling?

Cori

Um, I've been modeling for a year, and some change in months. So probably, I don't know, maybe eight or nine months I'm going, I'm coming up on three years, officially, in March. Um, honestly, my entire life, people have always told me, “Oh, like, are you a model? You should be a model.” But I never really took that into consideration until I was somehow in the right place the right time. That's the only thing to really say, because I kind of just did it for funsies. And then I met a person, and then that person said, “Oh, well, I can introduce you to this guy.” And then, that’s seemingly how I met Daniel (Eyecam). If I had not gone to that event two years ago, I would have not have met, Eyecam, Kai, the whole team. So honestly, it's kind of a blessing that it happened the way that it happened. And, I mean, I'm still here, and I still have aspirations and goals for myself.

Angid

Right. So tell me about that first photo shoot that you did, like, how did you find it? And you know, what was that like?

Cori

So the first photo shoot, I would say that was an official photo shoot, would have been with a photographer named Joe, okay, and on Instagram, his name is Belladonna, which is funny, because everyone thinks that he's a girl and he's not. But Joe and I had a photo shoot, and then he said, “Oh, well, my friend is having an event over in Maryland. You should come.” So literally, the next day, the next day, I never was a model when I was shooting with Joe. Like, I really just thought I was doing this for fun. It was all cutesy, and then I went to this event, and then I'm put into an event with like 10 top models. They know exactly what they're doing. They know how to pose themselves and their facial expressions. They know all this, this and that. I said, “Oh, it's like that. I gotta sink or swim now.” And I held my own against them, and the event host said, “Well, you're a model now, so you get to charge people. This is your business now.” Okay! So, obviously that comes with caveats. You literally learn it's all personal experience. Being a model taught me a lot about myself and like, setting boundaries with people, because that's really important, and making sure that I'm protected, foremost, always, because you never know what people's motives are.

Angid

Speaking of like, you said you had to hold your own against like 10 other models. Was there anyone who, mentored you, helped you along the way, on your modeling journey?

Cori

Um, I can't say specifically any one model really took me under their wing to tell me what to do or how to do it. I will say, yeah, they've definitely provided tips and tricks, like they'll give me advice on how I should pose or what I should do in terms of posting on Instagram and stuff like that, and obviously, like, I'm very what's the word I'm looking for? Very grateful for those women that were girls, girls, and that could help me be able to get myself to the level that I am now. Me personally, as a model, I know from personal experience, I love to help other models, like whether they have issues with their wardrobe or if they're posing or facial expressions, whatever it is, I try to make them comfortable. I've offered my own clothes to models that I've already shot in because I think they would look better in it. Or like my best friend Marie, is newer into modeling. I have basically given her all the tools and tricks that I know to try to help her so she doesn't have a bad experience going forward. So in a way, you became a mentor for a lot of people, and you brought them in and shown them the way, and kind of shown them what to stay away from, how to protect themselves, keep themselves safe. Yeah.

Angid

Um, is that what you kind of wanted when you first started in the industry, and that's why you've kind of done it now?

Cori

So when I very first started, I would say that I definitely was trying to find my footing in terms of where I belong in the industry. Like, what niche do I fit into? Because that's a big topic in the industry as a whole. But where would I fit the best, and how am I able to, you know, move forward and make a profit out of this, right? Um, obviously, the women that I try to connect myself with, there's always, you know, whether it's personal or business, there's always some type of conflict, right? So I have then turned it into, instead of me reaching out to people, I want the people to naturally come to me. Like, if I'm in synergy with the model, it should just happen naturally on its own. There shouldn't be any like, give and take conflict. So I would say there's definitely models that I think of now that I would say are in my wheelhouse of, we're in the same mentality. We have the same concept as of, we know what we want and how to achieve it and how to do it safely for all parties involved.

Angid

Okay, so I noticed a little something that you do, a talent of yours aside from modeling, is that you do graphic designs.

Cori

And yeah, so I went to Moore College of Art and Design for animation and gaming. So I originally wanted to be a video game designer, and I graduated during COVID, though. So COVID kind of, I guess, lessened the passionate drive that I had to make art because we didn't get our senior show. And senior show was really supposed to set us up for success in terms of getting the network that we needed in the business that we were doing. So with all that being said, it's been four years, about to be five years that I've been out of college, and I'm now finally regaining the artistic drive. Drive to want to make more art, aside from just being a model. So, I definitely have in the back of my head, because I've already written out this whole gallery showing that I wanted to do from a car accident that I had two years ago. I have so many artistic ideas, whether it be photography, or set design, or costumes, or accessories - I definitely want to fit myself more into the artistic niche of a model than just being like the pretty face.

Angid

Since you mentioned that you graduated from, video game design, what was video game design that you had in mind in college when you still had, the passion and the drive? Did you have a design in mind that kind of pops into your head and now and then?

Cori

If I were to be a video game designer, what would I do specifically? I would have done realistic 3D environments.

Angid

I did not know that about you!

Cori

Yeah! And I still do have a passion for that. I mean, like, hyper realistic. As in, this entire room, but in a video game. Like, it looks exactly the same way you see it, right now. It makes you question if it's real, or if it's fake.

Angid

Well that is very cool! Thank you for talking with me, Kory!

Cori

Always great chatting with you.